The Power of Spanish-Language News

Clients often tell me that they adequately reach "acculturated" Hispanics via their general market media plans. They also believe that English Dominant Hispanics simply do not watch or read Spanish-language media, despite data that shows a portion of them do. Why would they consume Hispanic targeted media if they speak English? Well, options for one. But really, it boils down to two words: News and Sports.

Today, let's tackle news. Hispanic focused news organizations cover topics that general market news bureaus just don't touch: immigration, inner city education, workplace injustice and information on legal and government processes.

But more importantly, the lens that Spanish-language news organizations use to filter information is far different. Don't believe me? Let's look at an example.

A lot of digital "ink" has been used to cover Mexico's violent war against the drug cartels which have left over 8,000 dead. Today, NYTimes.com featured a piece on the escalating violence and spoke about the corruption of police forces, the flow of money and weapons from the U.S. into Mexico and the aid that Mexico will receive from the U.S.

Now, look at a piece on Univision.com that highlights the dead, particularly the "good" authorities that have been murdered by the drug cartels for refusing bribes.

No doubt, American media has a very particular point-of-view on Mexico, Mexico's systems and certainly, it's "third world" or "developing" status. Yet we Hispanic-Americans have a more nuanced and arguably, accurate perspective on our countries of origin. Spanish-language news organizations give us a better picture on what is occuring there and discuss topics like the human toll of this war, something that U.S. based media simply glazes over. Apparently, dead Mexicans aren't that interesting.

Until American media broadens its approach to the coverage (or lack there of) that it provides for relevant Hispanic issues, Latinos - acculturated or not, will always turn to Spanish-language news as an alternative.

Latino Instant Communication

Data on Hispanic online behavior can hardly keep up with the lightning speed of changes occurring in the ways we use these technologies. One area where we over-index is in communication tools like instant messenger. With family and friends spread across the street to across the globe, we use these tools to stay connected.

Yet top instant messenger MSN is starting to see a decline in Hispanic usage. The culprit, Facebook instant messenger, where a lot of Hispanics are spending their time these days. But Facebook has some competition. A popular feature, the "status update," is already being replaced by Twitter, a service with huge popularity in urban areas.

While Twitter is enjoying growth, its' time may pass before it finds a way to earn revenue. Hispanics are going threw the web at warp speed, Twitter and Facebook need not hold back on the accelerator to keep up.

What Digital Divide?

The digital divide is narrowing. Today is like Christmas for yours truly. Scarborough Research just released a study on Hispanic online activity. In all key aspects especially pertaining to content downloads, Hispanics are leading the pack. (45% downloads vs. 32% for non-Hispanics.)

It's not that I want to say I told you so. But, today I sort of do. While the report does indicate that the total number of Hispanics online does lag the general population (54% vs. 68%), the rate of growth is staggering. Also, Hispanics leap frogged dial-up connections and went straight to broadband with penetration of 68% vs. 71% for the general population.

What I did find quite surprising is that online purchasing does not lag general market as much as I originally thought. In fact, 62% of Hispanics reported buying something online in the past 12 months vs. 70% for all internet users. They also spent similar amounts online to the general population ($762 vs. $861.) This new data does make me want to reevaluate my previous post on Hispanic online shopping.

All in all, the information contained in this report provides more evidence of the growing importance of the digital space for Hispanics. We continue to debunk the digital divide.

Technically a Padre

Online Spanish-language content is still no where near the levels of English-language, especially targeted to U.S. Hispanics. Aside from the major Hispanic targeted portals, there has been few opportunities to target different mindsets and lifestages. This of course, is changing on a daily basis.

Case in point, an AOL-backed site, Techno Padres, launched today targeting Spanish-dominant mothers of pre-teen kids. The site's content is being powered by The Online Mom, a site targeted to tech savvy moms mostly in English. Techno Padres is a nice complement to an existing player, Todobebe, which targets pregnant women and mothers of preschool aged children. A Johnson & Johnson powered site, Baby Center en Español, also has robust content for expectant mothers, but they have yet to attract a sizable audience.

Until recently, parenting content online and in Spanish has been hard to find. Moms, hungry to find information on child rearing have flocked to social networks instead. There is a Spanish-language mommy group on MySpace with 2.7MM users. There they converse and exchange ideas on a host of issues like cold remedies and how to stop little Consuelo from biting her nails.

Becoming a parent is no doubt one of the scariest things in life. (Will I screw this kid up!?) Again, the universal human experience trumps language and culture.

YouTube en Español

Last month I posted a blog about pirated Spanish-language Univision content on YouTube. The jist - there's a lot of it. So, it came as no surprise that while I was reviewing the top 10 Youtube videos of 2008, that a Spanish-language short movie, Lo Que Tú Querías Oír (What you wanted to hear), was in the #3 spot. The quirky "love story" (if you want to call it that) logged 76.5 million views. That's impressive.

What's really surprising is that the video was uploaded back in 2006! But, the video's audience didn't really take off until last year. It speaks to several factors including the shelf life of content online, the dynamics of viral and word-of-mouth online and the hyper growth in popularity of Spanish-language content online. Tons of topics for us to tackle another day, but I expect these types of examples will only continue to multiply.

Facebook Privacy - What Privacy?

Facing extreme pressure from its users, Facebook rescinded their updated policy to essentially "own" in perputuity any content that a user uploads - even if that user deletes his or her profile. One would think that Facebook stole everyone's first born child with the firestorm the company endured this week. Blogs were abuzzing...

What I found interesting is two things - the idea of privacy on a social network and how Hispanics reacted (or didn't react) to the news. The easy one first: social networks are public forums! You may have implemented strict security settings, but in essence, the difference is between walking around naked in the street or on your balcony (either way, someone is going to see you.)

The second is a cultural understanding of Hispanics and their concept of privacy. I've scanned blogs and have seen few Hispanic surnames in the comments section. Hispanics don't seem to be that up in arms about this whole mess. Yet, Hispanics make up a healthy margin of Facebook users (in the neighborhood of 23% even though they make up only 15% of the population.) So what gives? Don't they care that Facebook wants to own their Quinceniera pictures?

The answer is not really. When you grow up in multigenerational households and alongside more siblings than non-Hispanics (3.2 average siblings vs. 2.3), you're idea of privacy is fluid. You understand and accept that your "business" is going to be shared with more people. You accept that your brother's friends are going to tell their cousin Maria that you threw up at the carnival and show her a picture of it. That's life. If Facebook wants to own pictures of your Aunt Teresa dancing salsa with Cuco, your pitbull, then go for it. Afterall, social networks are for sharing. Don't share what you don't want others to see or know.